s/o condo daydream... Balancing the cozy little empty nest and the great big welcome mat

[Rosika]

It really depends on the ages of all concerned.  I had my children at 33 and 37 and Husband is 7 years older than I.  By the time my children are in their mid thirties, Husband will be in his late seventies.  The upkeep needed for our current large home will be really, really wearing by then.

 

On the other side, home ownership in the UK is becoming increasingly unaffordable for young people, so I have no idea if and when my children will have family homes of their own.

 

This is so true. I'm very guilty of thinking the kids and life will cooperate with my well-laid plans.  :biggrinjester:

 

I had my kids from 20-29, and then the caboose baby at 41. My mom had kids in her 20s, 30s, and 40s. I assume my kids will marry young and start families in their 20s, but that's pretty presumptuous of me! And all that assumes they'll marry orphans and have nowhere else to go on the holidays except for to my home. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out given the loop that this last baby has thrown us for.

 

Quill's post and yours were good reminders not to allow myself to get too wrapped up in the "fantasy" or my idea of what the future will look like. 

 

I do wonder about the housing market. It's become a bit ridiculous here, too, at least in our part of the country. It may just be that we keep the house in the family and merely pass it onto one of the kids (and their family) when we downsize (or perhaps we just stay.) That's a really good point, too. 

[MBM]

We downsized this past year because we're now empty nesters. I love living in our co-op. Everything, except fixing it up, has been super easy. We do have an extra bedroom if someone should stay but usually we're the visitors. If we should need more space it's easy enough to find nice accommodations in the area.

 

Our area is 1-4 blocks from our suburb's downtown, trains, the lake, grocery stores, hospital. It's very nice. And, our building has a large, private courtyard with patio, gardens and grassy areas for everyone who lives here -- babies to 90 year olds.

 

We also have a 200 sq ft place in Chicago in a lively area and also close to trains, buses, and a lot of the fun city attractions. The apartment is serene and is located near the outdoor rooftop deck. It's also easy to clean.

 

Excess stuff makes me feel shackled and encumbered. It took more than a year to pare down and what a job that was. In the future, we're going to be careful about acquiring stuff.

[heartlikealion]

In these hypothetical situations, how many bedrooms would a house have? Like to accommodate a few families? Would the owners of the home not have any use for the rooms or would it be like a bed in their private gym? A bed in their office? etc.

 

My parents have a 4 bedroom. One room is an office (no bed), one room has a twin (and medical/health equipment), and one room is the guest room with a double size bed. My inlaws have 3 bedrooms.

 

My siblings don't have kids but when we visit at the same time we still don't stay in the same home. One sis and her husband will be visiting around Christmas. They will stay in my parents' guest room. My family will stay across town in my inlaws' home.

[solascriptura]

There are so many factors involved that it's impossible to plan for housing so far in advance. Is it worth keeping a 4 bedroom house for guests that might come once a year? People are so transient that I cannot expect my kids and their future families to live close enough for frequent visits. I'm hoping to get a large 2 bedroom condo. Kids can sleep in sleeping bags on the living room floor. My kids do this with their cousins once a year at my parents' place and they love it. There is no need for separate sleeping places when the kids are trying to spend every possible second together during their yearly trips.

[heartlikealion]

There are so many factors involved that it's impossible to plan for housing so far in advance. Is it worth keeping a 4 bedroom house for guests that might come once a year? People are so transient that I cannot expect my kids and their future families to live close enough for frequent visits. I'm hoping to get a large 2 bedroom condo. Kids can sleep in sleeping bags on the living room floor. My kids do this with their cousins once a year at my parents' place and they love it. There is no need for separate sleeping places when the kids are trying to spend every possible second together during their yearly trips.

 

Imo it only makes sense if you can make use of at least some of the space the rest of the time. Like a craft room with a pull out couch or something.

 

Unless financially speaking it is no concern to you and/or you have misc. visitors throughout the year.